Understanding Baby's Crying

A baby’s crying is very distressing to parents. It is not known why babies sometimes cry for long periods without being easily comforted. However, babies vary in the amount and intensity of crying in their first year.

Parents are often told to trust their intuition in recognising differences in their baby’s cries and to decide what these mean. However, it is actually very difficult to identify different cries and most parents assume that the baby is either hungry or in pain.

Parents often don’t know what to do to quieten and soothe their baby and can lose confidence very quickly.

Here are some things to remember:

A certain amount of crying is to be expected

The total time a baby cries each day increases gradually and peaks at about six weeks of age

It can be tempting to try to distract a crying baby, but it is often better to try quiet soothing

It is helpful for fathers and mothers to have a number of ways to soothe their baby,
not just by offering a feed

Babies cry more when they are tired, have not had enough sleep, or are over-stimulated

Well-slept babies cry much less and are more easily comforted than babies who have not had enough

Compare

Dad's Answers

Mum's Answers

1. How many hours per day does your baby cry overall?

2. At what times of day?

Early morning

Early Afternoon

Late evening

Mid morning

Mid afternoon

Night - before midnight

Late morning

Late afternoon

Night - midnight to 3am

Midday

Evening

Night - 3am to 6am

3. What have you done so far to soothe the baby?

Gentle rocking

Playing

Changing

Singing / music

Bouncing / jiggling

Waiting

Distraction

Whispering

Nothing

Patting

Feeding

Other

1. How many hours per day does your baby cry overall?

2. At what times of day?

Early morning

Early Afternoon

Late evening

Mid morning

Mid afternoon

Night - before midnight

Late morning

Late afternoon

Night - midnight to 3am

Midday

Evening

Night - 3am to 6am

3. What have you done so far to soothe the baby?

Gentle rocking

Playing

Changing

Singing / music

Bouncing / jiggling

Waiting

Distraction

Whispering

Nothing

Patting

Feeding

Other

1. How many hours per day does your baby cry overall?

2. At what times of day?

Early morning

Early Afternoon

Late evening

Mid morning

Mid afternoon

Night - before midnight

Late morning

Late afternoon

Night - midnight to 3am

Midday

Evening

Night - 3am to 6am

3. What have you done so far to soothe the baby?

Gentle rocking

Playing

Changing

Singing / music

Bouncing / jiggling

Waiting

Distraction

Whispering

Nothing

Patting

Feeding

Other

Learning from your answers

Parents often don’t know what to do to quieten and soothe their baby and can lose confidence very quickly. Here are some things to remember:

If babies are well fed and are not currently sick, prolonged crying might be related to being over-stimulated and over-tired.

If your baby cries for periods of longer than five to ten minutes and your current soothing strategies do not seem help, perhaps your baby needs quietness and sleep.

Try using the Feed-Play-Sleep routine which is described on the next page.